1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system of information exchanging services which provides opportunities for establishing one-to-one communication while using a network system such as the internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various text information, image information and sound information are available through the internet from many web sites on the World Wide Web (WWW). The Bulletin Board System (BBS) has been a major method for finding persons on the internet.
Since messages posted to the BBS are open communications, anyone can browse them. This is a demerit for some users who do not want to open personal information to public inspection. Moreover, it is difficult to find people when searching by interests.
There are some member directory sites which require user charges. Most of those sites, for example, charge users for the service by monthly payment. Therefore, the users are charged even if they can not find persons who match their criteria.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide users with opportunities for easily finding matched folks for establishing communications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide users opportunities for establishing one-to-one communication with others through a network, while providing mated users with easy usability.
The present invention further relates to communication through a network, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a reasonable charging method.
To achieve the above objects, a method for intermediating information according to a first aspect of the present invention is a method for intermediating information comprises:
registering attribute information of a plurality of members at a database;
extracting members to be introduced to another member based on the attribute information registered at the database;
introducing the extracted members to a target member who searches other members, via a network; and
intermediating information between the target member and the introduced members via the network.
According to the above structure, a member can find appropriate introduction members because the introduction members are extracted based on the members"" attribute information. The target member and the introduced member can exchange messages one-to-one between them.
The members may be charged for information transfer. In this case, since the member is charged not for introduction but for transferring information, the member can choose variable introduction.
The members may be charged when the target member transmits information to the introduced members first time, or a member transmits a reply to received information. If the user is charged each time he/she transmits information, the user tends to reduce the number of information transmissions. According to the above structure, the user is charged only when the target member transfers information to the introduction member first time, or only when the introduction member transfers reply information to the target member. In this structure, the members are not charged for transferring information second time and after. The users keep their motivation for continued communications.
The attribute information may include information representing characteristics of the members and search options In this case, members whose characteristics match with the search option of the target member may be introduced to the target member.
The extracting members and the introducing members may be repeatedly executed at predetermined timings such as every predetermined cycle or every predetermined time. Or they may be executed in response to a request given by a member.
The extracted members may be limited to the predetermined number by using, for example, random numbers, in a case where the large number of the members are extracted.
Predetermined information of the member may be open to the public in form of, for example, web pages so that other members can refer to the opened information. According to this structure, the member can refer to information of the introduced member, and can decide whether transfer information to the introduced member, in other words, establish communication between the introduced member or not.
Information may be exchanged via electronic bulletin boards prepared for each member. In this case, the member may be charged for posting a message to the bulletin board of the introduced member. Since only the members are allowed to access the bulletin boards, information exchanged among the members is not leaked to public BBS on the net, thus, the member""s privacy will be protected.
The member (for example, member A) who is going to post a message to a bulletin board of other member (for example member B) is noticed that the member A will be charged after the message is posted, and the member A is allowed to post the message to the bulletin board when the member A agrees with the notice. According to this structure, the user is noticed when he/she is charged, therefore, the users can use the system with making their decisions whether they enjoy pay service or not.
The members may be allowed to exchange information via bulletin boards prepared for each member. And, a member (member A) posts a message to the bulletin board of the introduced member (member B), and the member B may be charged when posting a reply to the bulletin board of the member A.
In this case, the member (member B) who receives a message from other member through the bulletin board and is going to post a reply to the received message posted by the member A, may be noticed that the member B will be charged after the reply is posted, and the member B may be allowed to post the reply when the member agrees the notice.
The members may be extracted except members who have been introduce to the target member before and/or members to whom the target member has been introduced before.
A web page on which a list of the extracted introductions and a message arrival indicator item (including, icon, button, hypertext, pull-down menu, etc.) representing that messages by other members have arrived are arranged may be provided to each member; a web page showing profile data of the introduction may be presented to the target member in response to selecting the introduction from the list; and messages may be presented to the target member in response to selecting the message arrival indicator item.
The web page showing the profile data may have a request transmission item for transmitting a request for transmitting messages to other members; a form page for inputting and transmitting a message to other member may be provided to the target member in response to selecting the request transmission item; and the target member may be charged when the target member transmits a message to another member, or when the target member receives reply from other member to the target member.
To achieve the above objects, a system for intermediating messages according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises:
a database which stores attribute information of a plurality of members;
a member extraction unit which extracts members to be introduced to another member based on the attribute information stored in the database;
a member introducing unit which introduces the member extracted by the member extraction unit to a target member who has searched other members; and
an intermediate unit which intermediates messages between the target member and the introduced member.
According to this structure, a member can find appropriate introduction members because the member extraction unit extracts the introduction members based on the members"" attribute information. The target member and the introduced member can exchange messages one-to-one between them.
Further, the user may be charged for message intermediate by the intermediate unit. In this case, since the user is not charged for introducing but for information transfer, the member can choose variable introduction.
The intermediate may comprise:
an electronic bulletin board storage unit which stores electronic bulletin boards prepared for each member;
a posting unit which posts a message to the bulletin board of the member introduced by the member introducing unit in response to a request from the target member; and
a message presenting unit which presents the message posted to the bulletin board of the introduced member in response to a request from the member concerned.
The system may comprise open information storage unit for storing opened information of the members; information read unit which reads out the open information of the introduced member from the open information storage unit, and presents the read-out information to the target member in response to a request from the target member; a message posting unit which posts a message to the bulletin board of a member introduced to the target member who refers to the presented open information in response to a request from the target member, and a message presenting unit which presents the message posted to the bulletin board of the introduced member in response to a request from the member concerned.
The system may comprise a charge unit which charges for the message intermediate by the intermediate unit.
The charge unit may carry out charging when the intermediate unit transmits a message from the target member to the introduced member first time, or transmits a reply message by the introduce member to the message by the target member.
The database may store attribute information of the members, for example, information representing characteristics of the members and search options of the members. In this case, the member extracting unit may extract members whose character information matches with the search option of the target member.
The member extracting unit may extract members at predetermined timings repeatedly, for example, at every predetermined cycle or every predetermined time, or extract members in response to a request from the target member.
The member extracting unit may further comprise a member limiting unit which limits the extracted members to the predetermined numbers with using, for example, random numbers.
The member extracting unit may include a member excluding unit which excludes members who have been introduced to the target member before and/or members to whom the target member has been introduced before, from the members to be introduced to the target member.
The system may further comprising an information providing unit which provides the target member with information regarding to the introduced members.
The system may further comprise:
a web page storage unit which stores web pages each showing profile data of each member;
a message storage unit which stores messages posted to the members;
a web page providing unit which provides each member with a web page on which a list indicating extracted members to be introduced, and a message arrival indicator item representing that messages from the other members have arrived;
a web page reading unit which reads out the web page showing profile data of the introduced member from the web page storage unit in response to selecting the introduced member from the list on the web page of the target member, and provides the target member with the read-out profile web page; and
a message reading unit which reads out messages posted to the target member from the message storage unit in response to selecting the message arrival indicator item, and provides the target member with the read-out messages.
Each of the web pages for showing the profile data of the members may have a request transmission item for transmitting a request for transmitting a message, and
the system may further comprises a form providing unit which provides a form page for inputting and transmitting the message in response to selecting the request transmission item.
The system may further comprise:
a charge unit which carries out charging, and
a message storage unit which stores the message from the member on the message storage unit with activating the charge unit.
Each of the web pages for showing the profile data of the member (for example, member A) may have a request transmission item for transmitting a request for transmitting a message to the introduced member (member B), and
the system may further comprise:
a first form providing unit which provides (the member A with) a form page for inputting and transmitting a message to the introduced member (member B), in response to selecting the selective indication;
a first storage control unit which receives a message inputted through the form page from the target member (member A), and stores the received message on a first message memory (bulletin board, etc.) prepared for the destination member (member B);
a second form providing unit which provides (the member B with) a form page for inputting and transmitting a reply message to the message (given by the member A) stored in the first message memory, in response to a request given by the member (member B) who received the message; and
a second storage control unit which receives (from the member B) the reply message inputted through the form page provided by the second form providing unit, and stores the received reply message on a second message memory (provided for the member A).
The system may further comprise a charge unit which carries out charging when the second storage control unit stores the reply message on the second message memory.
A system for intermediating messages according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:
a members"" information database which stores attribute information of a plurality of members;
an open information database which stores open web pages each of which includes member""s open information and a request transmission item for transmitting a request for message transmission;
an electronic bulletin board storage unit which stores electronic bulletin boards of the members;
an introduction member extraction unit which extracts members (member B) to be introduced to another member (member A) based on attribute information in the members"" information database;
a member""s web page providing unit which transmits (to the member A) the member""s web page having introduction member selector items for selecting an introduction member (member B) extracted by the introduction member extraction unit;
a message transmission unit which transmits a message input form to the target member (member A) in response to selecting the request transmission item prepared on the transmitted open information web page; and
a form receiving unit which receives the form in which a message is input from the target member (member A), and posts the received message to a bulletin board of the introduction member (member B).
The member""s web page providing unit may comprise, for example, a message arranging unit which arranges a message arrival indicator item (including icon, button, hypertext, etc) indicating that a bulletin board of a member to whom a web page will be provided receives a message, on the web page to be provided in a case where a new message has arrived, and
the system may further comprise: a bulletin board transmission unit which transmits a bulletin board having a replay request item for requesting transmission of a reply to the message; a reply transmission unit which transmits a reply message input form to the member who selected the reply request item; and a form receiving unit which receives the form on which a reply message is input, and posts the reply message to a bulletin board of the member who transmitted the message.
The member""s web page providing unit may provide a member with a member""s web page (top page) on which an introduction member selector item for selecting introduction members and a message arrival indicator item for indicating a message has arrived are arranged when the member accesses the system.
The system may further comprise a charge unit which charges the target user when the target member posts a message to the bulletin board of the introduction member, or when the target member receives a reply message from the introduction member through the bulletin board of the target member.
A computer readable recording medium according to a fourth aspect of the present invention stores a program to be executed by a computer or computers to make the computer or computers have functions of:
an introduction member extraction unit which extracts members to be introduced to another member based on attribute information stored in a database storing attribute information of a plurality of members;
an extracted member introducing unit which introduces a target member who searches other members of the introduction members extracted by the introduction member extraction unit; and
an intermediate unit which intermediates message exchanges between the target member and the introduced members.